Maresca admits Man City rebuild makes early Premier League form 'complicated'

Enzo Maresca has conceded that Manchester City are still far from their best, warning that a sweeping summer rebuild and disrupted pre-season mean his side will need time to reflect his ideas on the pitch.

Speaking ahead of City’s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace, the Blues boss pointed to a combination of factors complicating his start: a new tactical identity, significant squad turnover, and players returning late from the World Cup. “It has been complicated because we start new concept, new things, new manager, even if there are similarities with the previous one,” Maresca said. “But in the end the manager is different, the players are different.”

City scraped past Bournemouth on the opening day of the season, and Maresca was candid about the limitations that result exposed. He cited the absence of late-returning players as a direct influence on selection, pointing to the “Marc Guehi solution” as one example of the improvisations he has been forced to make.

The club has been active in the transfer market this summer, breaking their record to sign Elliot Anderson for £116 million and confirming the arrival of Ayyoub Bouaddi this week. Maresca is still looking to add further reinforcements before Tuesday’s deadline, with the squad turnover — driven by a number of departures — adding to the complexity of his task.

Despite inheriting a club that spent a decade under the same manager, Maresca insisted the scale of change was something he anticipated. “Since I joined the club, I knew that 10 years with the same manager, also the idea was to change players for different reasons,” he said. “I knew that there was a big change to the squad but it is not something I am worried about.”

When pressed on whether City’s best football might not arrive until later in the season, Maresca stopped short of setting a timeline, instead pointing to incremental progress. “There are things that we did well in the previous game, there are things we did quite well against Bournemouth, but there are many things that for sure we are going to do better,” he said.